During the past years, the interest in using mobile and landline/wireline computing devices in day-to-day communications has increased. Desktop computers, workstations, and other wireline computers currently allow users to communicate, for example, via e-mail, video conferencing, and instant messaging (IM). Mobile devices, for example, mobile telephones, handheld computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc., also allow users to communicate via e-mail, video conferencing, IM, and the like. Mobile telephones have conventionally served as voice communication devices, but through technological advancements they have recently proved to be effective devices for communicating data, graphics, etc. Wireless and landline technologies continue to merge into a more unified communication system, as user demand for seamless communications across different platforms increases, which in turn creates more usage, and leads to more services and system improvements.
Another area which has benefited from the technologies associated with the advances in communications technology is Machine-to-Machine (M2M) systems. Early M2M systems typically were private systems which allowed for communication between a sensor and a device, wherein information associated with the sensor, e.g., current fluctuation, water flow, temperature, etc., could be transmitted back to a device which could use that information or allow an operator to use the information.
More recent M2M systems are more public systems which can allow a plurality of sensors, devices, software applications and user terminals to share information. M2M systems can also allow any application to subscribe to any change to any M2M resource held in an M2M Service Capability Platform. For example, an M2M system could be designed wherein a sensor is placed at every utility meter enabling M2M applications to subscribe to fluctuations in energy usage by thousands or millions of energy consumers, or to be notified when battery levels in these remote devices fall below a certain range. With these options, as M2M systems grow, the volume of transmitted information in M2M systems is expected to become quite large.
Currently, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) M2M framework does not provide support for application related events. Application related events are typically events related to M2M applications which are using the M2M system to manage M2M resources that are of interest to the M2M applications. To report an event when the water meter consumption exceeds a certain level for a user, or when a machine measuring a diabetic level for a patient goes under or over a certain level are examples of application related events in the context of the M2M system. There are potentially a large number of these application related events which are use cases that constitute value added information for an end user which can be revenue generating services for potential M2M service and application providers.
The current ETSI M2M framework is transparent to the information exchanged by applications and acts like a system which can store and forward information without knowing the content of the information, e.g., the syntax and/or the semantics of the data are not understood by the system.
Accordingly, systems and methods for support of application related events in M2M systems are desirable as they represent value-added services to M2M systems.